Saturday, 28 July 2007

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni undertook a long trek recently to visit both Kenya and Tanzania by road. This is a bit unusual since most Presidents make such trips by air.

Nevertheless, it would appear that the trip did not go as planned. This is reported in the East African Weekly tabloid of July 16-22, 2007 (p. 3) in an article entitled: “Impassable roads cut short Museveni's EA trip”.

According to presidential spokesperson Tamale Birundi (who in the article is also referred to as Mirundi), “under the original itinerary, President Museveni was expected to drive back to Uganda from northern Tanzania through the Mutukula border post, where the 1979 liberation forces entered Uganda, but was forced to 'abndon' the plan by the poor state of the roads”.

“The road from Mutukula to Uganda was impassable”, said Mr Mirundi (Birundi?). “Nor could 'and' the president travel through Bukoba port on Lake Victoria because the ferry …. was considered unreliable”.

We could excuse the typographical error, where one 'a' is missing from the word 'abandon'. Also we note that the typesetter forgot to remove the redundant 'and' in the above sentence. But to say that the road from Mutukula to Uganda was impassable is intriguing. A quick reference to the atlas shows that Mutukula is a border town (indeed the article says so).

Friday, 27 July 2007

THE Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has described Simba SC's withdrawal from the Tusker Cup as a great discouragement to the development of football.

TFF General Secretary Freddie Mwakalebela made the remarks yesterday, when confirming that Simba's place in the Tusker Cup would be taken by Prisons FC.

“Their decision to withdraw from the tournament is unfair to the game of football. They have acted rather selfishly, instead of considering efforts we are making to develop football,” he said. He added: “Of course we respect their decision but it's a great discouragement because the tournament is very important to the development of our football in the whole of East Africa.

A contingent of twenty four SC Villa players and officials left this morning for Tanzania where they are to participate in the Tusker Challenge Cup.

The group headed by team coach and Fufa vice chairman - technical Asuman Lubowa left at 3:00 a.m. aboard the club bus and are expected in Mwanza, Tanzania on Friday where the one week event will be held.

“Besides winning the prize money, we also want our players to get some regional exposure since most of them are young,” Villa secretary Edward Luyimbazi Mugalu said.Record league champions SC Villa are drawn in Group B alongside Yanga and Mtibwa Sugar. The Blues face Yanga in the opening game of the group on July 29.

Wednesday, 25 July 2007

The venue for this year's Tusker Challenge Cup soccer tournament has been moved again within a week due to various reasons.

The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) announced on Tuesday that the venue had been moved from Morogoro to Mwanza.

The cup tourney was originally planned to be played in Dar es Salaam.The venue was first changed late last week due to the fact that the FIFA-sponsored artificial turf had got stuck in the port clearance process and therefore could not be fitted in the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam for the start of the tourney.

Thursday, 19 July 2007

SOME offices in high rise buildings mainly in Arusha, Tanzania and parts of Nairobi were yesterday abandoned as a series of earth tremors continued to hit the East African towns for the fifth day.

Panic gripped the two EA cities with dozens of workers declining to enter the high-rise buildings on Wednesday morning. The Tanzania Meteorological Agency confirmed that the ongoing tremors have triggered panic in every corner of the country but allayed public fears about an impending major earthquake.

TMA chief Mohamed Mhita maintained that such tremors usually occur at least during this period of the year and he described them as normal. He said they cause no major damage.

From Daily News, Dar es SalaamBy DAILY NEWS Reporter, MwanzaTHE children’s ward at Sekou Toure Regional Hospital here re-opened on Monday after major rehabilitation that cost about 26m/-. It had been closed for more than a year. Mwanza Regional Commissioner, Dr James Msekela, who graced the short opening ceremony, said the ward could admit 30 children. The cost of its rehabilitation was borne by the Vodacom Foundation. Works included refurbishing, repainting, installation of new sinks, water tapes and beds.Read more:http://www.dailynews-tsn.com/page.php?id=7806

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

POLICE in Mwanza have impounded 1,130 vehicles following a special operation against drivers with fake driving licences and defective vehicles, the Commander of Traffic Police Unit, SACP James Kombe, revealed yesterday.

Mr Kombe said fines totalling 61.2m/- has to be paid by owners of the defective vehicles inspected by the police.

He also said that ten drivers were caught with fake licences in Kilimanjaro and were due to be taken to court, while 41 vehicles were impounded in Kinondoni, including 34 commuter buses and that a total of 1.2m/ in fines was due to be paid.

Sunday, 8 July 2007

THE National Social Security Fund (NSSF) here has surpassed its target of collecting members' contributions by 21.7 per cent during last financial year, Regional Manager, Eliud Sanga, said here yesterday.

The fund's target was to collect 7.3bn/- in 2006/07, but, it managed to collect 8.9bn/-, Mr Sanga said.

He said the fund had until last May, enrolled 5,239 members, equivalent to 98 per cent of its target of enrolling 5,338 new members in the region.

It may sound fictitious but it`s real: Nicholaus Issa is three-people-in-one. From sunrise to noon, he is a student and then converts to part-beggar and part-odd jobs operative in the streets up to late evening.

The "third person" rounds off the day when he retires for the night, not in the conventional sense of sleeping under a roof, but in the open.

15-year-old Nicholaus is a street child, who shares the degrading label with several other boys and girls in Dar es Salaam and other Tanzanian urban centres.

Friday, 6 July 2007

FOOD production in 2007/08 is expected to reach 11.02 million tonnes against national consumption of 10.09 tonnes, the Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Mr Stephen Wassira, has said.

Mr Wassira, who was tabling his ministry’s 2007/08 annual budget estimates in the National Assembly, said the nation will have a nine per cent surplus of food. He said Iringa, Mbeya, Ruvuma, Rukwa, Mtwara, Kigoma, and Lindi will have surplus stocks.

He said that Morogoro, Manyara, Kagera, Dodoma, Mwanza, Tanga, Coast, Mara and Shinyanga regions will have enough stocks of food but will not have surplus. He told the House that Tabora, Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Dar es Salaam will have minimal shortages.

Tuesday, 3 July 2007

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni is travelling to parts of Kenya and Tanzania by road this weekend as a gesture to show that East Africa is now "borderless".

This is the first time the President travels to both countries by road. The journey is expected to cover about 3,000 kilometres.Daily Monitor has learnt that while in Kenya, Mr Museveni will visit Kisumu town and several industrial establishments within the province.

He will then proceed to Mwanza in Tanzania. From Mwanza, the President will travel to the Kagera region and particularly visit the northern Tanzania Bukoba diocese in Kashozi Kagera region where he will lay a wreath on the grave of the late Laurean Cardinal Rugambwa.

TWIGA Bancorp is the only bank offering all banking services at the 31st Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF).

The bank's Marketing Manager, Ms Eva Mwasomola, said that the bank decided to do so for convenience to its customers.

"All services are available here. Our customers can deposit or withdraw their money right here," said Ms Mwasomola. Ms Mwasomola further added that loan requesting forms can be filled and begin being processed at the grounds.

The bank has two branches in Dar es Salaam, and one each in Mwanza and Arusha.